The Presidential Library marking Ivan the Terrible’s birthday

The future first Russian tsar crowned to the throne, Ivan IV Vasilyevich the Terrible, was born 490 years ago, on August 25, 1530.

Ivan, who received the name Tit-Smaragd-Ioann Vasilyevich Rurik at baptism, was the son of the Grand Duke of Moscow Vasily III and his second wife Elena Vasilyevna Glinskaya. The divorce and a new marriage of the Grand Duke caused discontent among the princely-boyar nobility, who perceived this "...as a blow to the prestige of the noble families of the Russian state and an insult to them, ...unwillingness to reckon with the position of the boyars", - said historian, professor Ivan Smirnov, author of the work "Ivan the Terrible" (1944), which is available in the electronic reading room of the Presidential Library.

The controversial historical figure of Ivan the Terrible is covered in the works of the playwright and historian Nikolai Polevoy "The Reign of Ivan the Terrible" (1859), the writer Yevgeny Solovyov "Ivan the Terrible: his life and state activities" (1893) and others; documents of that era and various research materials in the collection “The Grand Duke. Tsar" in the large-scale collection of the Presidential Library "State Authority" and detailed information in On This Day section, available on the institution's portal.

Vasily III died when his son was 3 years old, and the government passed to the widow of Prince Elena and the boyar Duma. The five years of the reign of Grand Duchess Elena until her death in 1538 were the era of the struggle for power of boyar families, palace conspiracies, coups and executions. According to Academician Sergei Platonov in the publication Ivan the Terrible (1530-1584) (1923), Ivan “...had to go through a difficult time of an orphan childhood and the associated moral damage. <...> Not an ideological struggle, not major political clashes, but petty enmity and anger, low intrigues and violence, robbery and arbitrariness - all this he had to watch and endure from day to day". 

According to many researchers, such a situation in childhood influenced the character of the future tsar.

In December 1546, a 16-year-old Ivan, in the presence of the boyars, received from his mentor, Metropolitan Macarius, a blessing to marry and, as stated in the historical essay “Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich the Terrible” (1868), “then Ivan announced his other intention to the boyars: “more before marriage, perform the ancient rite of his ancestors and marry the kingdom". He ordered the Metropolitan and the boyars to prepare for this great celebration”, which took place on January 16, 1547 in the Assumption Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin.

After Moscow fires and the uprising of 1547, a circle of persons around the young tsar was formed, which Prince Andrei Kurbsky called the "Chosen Rada", and Ivan himself the "Sobatsky Assembly", which became an informal government until 1560. Together with the "Chosen Rada" the tsar carried out a number of reforms.

“There is no doubt that the reforms of the 1950s of the 16th century were a system of measures that covered many aspects of Moscow life: local government in connection with various forms of self-government and with the ordering of the service class and local land tenure; taxation organization in connection with the better provision of service people and with the improvement of their service itself; military structure, church and social life, books and much more”, - this is how these transformations are characterized in the introduction to the aforementioned book by Sergei Platonov.

“The apology of absolutism and national unity, the consciousness of the universal role of Moscow and, in connection with it, the desire to communicate with other peoples - these are the ideas and aspirations of the century that determined the foundations of the world outlook of Grozny”, - noted Sergei Platonov. To implement these ideas and aspirations, certain conditions were required, which Ivan Smirnov listed in his work: “An active foreign policy - and, first of all, Eastern policy - was one of the most important means for strengthening and further development of the Russian national state. <...> A necessary condition for the development of the Russian state was the strengthening of economic and cultural ties with Western Europe ... Meanwhile, the Russian state in the 16th century in fact, it did not have reliable forms and ways for relations with Western European countries, because it was separated from Western Europe by hostile states: the Polish-Lithuanian state and Livonia".

Ivan the Terrible’s foreign policy during the first period of his reign, until the early 60s, had a success. The third eastern campaign of Russian troops in 1552 ended with the capture of Kazan, in 1556 Astrakhan was finally conquered. After the defeat of the Swedes in 1557, an armistice was concluded with Sweden. The war with Livonia that began in 1558 led to the liquidation of the Livonian Confederation. By 1563, Ivan IV was at the pinnacle of power, military-organizational fame and popularity.

But from the beginning of 1564, through the fault of the tsarist governors, a series of failures and defeats followed in the ongoing war with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania; Prince Kurbsky, who commanded the Russian troops in Livonia, went over to the side of the enemy. The boyars were against the continuation of the war in the West, and Ivan the Terrible responded to this dissatisfaction with repressive measures by creating a life-guard. "The beginning of the policy of the life-guard was the creation of an extraordinary apparatus of power, not bound by any traditions limiting autocratic power ... and a special "life-guard" army", - wrote Platonov.

From 1570 to 1577, Russia successfully fought Sweden, the most dangerous enemy in the West. In 1577, Poland entered the war against the Russian state, led by the newly elected King Bathory. The last period of the Livonian War was unsuccessful for Russia, which had to fight at once with two militarily strongest opponents and at the same time overcome the internal crisis caused by the life-guard.

The result of the war was the conclusion in 1582 of a 10-year truce with the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth - the Polish-Lithuanian state, and in 1583 - a three-year truce with Sweden. According to Platonov, "The Livonian War, which began just in the middle of the reign of Ivan the Terrible and ended just a few months before his death, can justly be called the work of the life of Tsar Ivan Vasilyevich".

Ivan IV the Terrible died in Moscow on March 18, 1584. He is buried in the Archangel Cathedral of the Moscow Kremlin, next to his son Ivan.